It began like how all things begin these days: online.
“I was playing Diddy Kong Racing over the winter holidays and I couldn’t beat a boss, so I went, ‘Oh, I’ll figure out what to do by going on YouTube.’” Jane M. Wagner, sitting in a cafe at Spring Studios, recounts the origins of her directorial debut, Break The Game. “The first thing that came up was a speedrun of Diddy Kong Racing and it completely blew my mind … I just kept clicking next video, next video, and came across some of Narcissa [Wright]’s legendary [The Legend of Zelda:] Ocarina of Time speedruns.”
Her documentary, which just celebrated its World Premiere at the Tribeca Festival and will soon play Indianapolis’ Gen Con, follows Wright’s reemergence into the world of speedrunning after coming out as transgender. Wagner’s discovery of Wright’s work came just one month after transitioning. “I went on her stream and was blown away by how raw and real it was. When I saw she wanted to make a comeback with [The Legend of Zelda:] Breath of the Wild, I reached out on Twitter.”
It’s fitting that a film about a gamer was inspired by an act of gaming, but Wagner’s intentions go beyond authenticity in terms of just video games. Though its focus is on Wright’s story, Break The Game can be seen as a larger look at how digital life informs physical life. It’s why a majority of her film can take place via digitally-recreated Twitch streams and still feel meaningful, even if many people had initially advised Wagner against it.
“I was told by a lot of really important people that that was not cinematic, that no one wants to see someone in front of the computer for a whole movie,” she said. “I tried all sorts of things to make it more traditional and it just felt wrong. Over time, more and more of that got peeled away.” Wagner credits the pandemic with helping people integrate into digital spaces, like Zoom. “I think that actually worked toward the film’s advantage and allowed me to really embrace Narcissa’s perspective more completely.”
That said, the film is not entirely confined to the web. Wright’s perspective is thoroughly realized in a variety of ways, including fully animated pixel art sequences reminiscent of Nintendo’s iconic fantasy franchise and even a few others, like Stardew Valley and Undertale. However, it is most palpably realized in the film’s back half, when Wagner captures footage of Wright in real life – or, as chronically online people would say, IRL. One sequence sees her hiking California’s Topanga Canyon in what can’t help but feel like her own Breath of the Wild experience.
“The idea came from when I was spending time with Narcissa [in Portland].” Wagner visited Wright upwards of 12 times to capture footage of her. “We’d go for a walk, we’d see a flower, and she’d say, “Oh, that reminds me! It’s Warm Safflina, like from Breath of the Wild.” That’s just how she sees the world. We spent a lot of time talking about how she doesn’t see the world necessarily as [divided] between digital life and the physical world. She’s like, ‘It’s all real, it’s all part of life,’ so I wanted to tap into that feeling.”
In this exclusive conversation with Geek Vibes Nation, Wagner discusses collaborating with Wright, accurately portraying the internet on film, and how her World Premiere screening began with the wrong movie. Here is that conversation, edited for length and clarity.
There’s no better way to start a Tribeca interview than talking about a memorable festival experience. Off-mic, you just told me that they started playing the wrong film at your World Premiere screening??
Yes. I’m sitting there. I’m ready for the moment six years in the making. I see names of studios that declined funding my film [laughs] and I was like, “What’s going on here? Is this some sort of strange ad?” And then I’m like, “Oh no. They played the wrong film.”
Do you know which film that they were playing?
I haven’t had time to figure it out, but I can figure it out based on the studios. I just want to know if they played my film at the beginning of theirs!
Now you know what films they ended up funding in the end.
I have thoughts on which was the better decision.
[laughs] Anyway, where did this project begin?
It started in a very internet-y way. In 2015, I was playing Diddy Kong Racing over the winter holidays and I couldn’t beat a boss, so I went, “Oh, I’ll figure out what to do by going on YouTube.” The first thing that came up was a speedrun of Diddy Kong Racing and it completely blew my mind. It was just so entrancing. I utilized some of the techniques to beat the boss, but I just kept clicking next video, next video, and came across some of Narcissa [Wright]’s legendary [The Legend of Zelda:] Ocarina of Time speedruns. It was very clear this person was a celebrity beloved by their community, so I was like, “I need to know more.” It happened to be about a month after she had transitioned. I went on her stream and was blown away by how raw and real it was. I watched Narcissa stream for about a year as a lurker, which is my internet archetype. [laughs] When I saw she wanted to make a comeback with Breath of the Wild, I reached out on Twitter and here we are.
So you initially wanted to create this film as her comeback?
Yeah. I thought it was a movie the second I saw Narcissa’s stream, but when I saw that she wanted to make a comeback, I was like, “This is a full story that’s moving forward in real time and, no matter what happens, it’s going to be interesting.” On a formal level, I was interested in exploring this as a documentary. Especially as someone about Narcissa’s age who [also] grew up online, I’d never really seen a documentary that presented that experience from within. To me, all the movies I had seen that touched on internet culture came at it from outside and not in an authentic or nuanced way. That was really exciting to me.
I’m curious about Narcissa’s involvement in the film. Where did your relationship with Narcissa begin and how do you think it evolved as the film evolved?
Even though the film embraces the livestream of it all, I made about 10 to 12 trips out to Portland and filmed with Narcissa throughout two years. The relationship that we had, both from filming together over all those years and a lot of time hanging out off camera, really enhanced the documentary. I was able to really infuse knowledge of Narcissa as a person, who does exist beyond the screen, into the film in a way that was really important. If you go on YouTube and search Narcissa Wright, it’s just a trash fire: “Narcissa Wright: The Downfall,” “The Narcissa Wright Delusion,” tons of ridiculous hit pieces that never consider her to be a person and took moments out of context. I was able to take stories that she told me and turn them into animation or take the phone calls from her mom and infuse those in, things that I had access to because we had an actual relationship. I trusted her to be as involved as possible. We worked together [on] some of the voiceover that’s in the film during the animations. She’d write some of it or I’d pull from an interview and be like, “Something like this,” and then she’d write narration. It was pretty collaborative.
What were some of the changes that you felt the film itself go through? Where did you start and what were the major evolutions into the piece that you ended with?
When I first started, it was 2017. Even though my gut said this needed to be in the livestream as much as possible, I was told by a lot of really important people that that was not cinematic, that no one wants to see someone in front of the computer for a whole movie. I tried making the footage that I shot of her in her apartment work and I tried interviewing followers from the stream.Up until a few months ago, there was still some verité footage in the beginning.
Really?
Yeah. I tried all sorts of things to make it more traditional and it just felt wrong. Over time, more and more of that got peeled away. Part of it was the fact that COVID happened and we’re all now accustomed to seeing things like Zoom. It doesn’t require explanation. You can just settle in. I think that actually worked toward the film’s advantage and allowed me to really embrace Narcissa’s perspective more completely.
I’m so fascinated by that. We both are of a generation where we experience so much media through these lenses. It made total sense to me that it was screenlife for the majority of it because that’s who she is. That’s her identity.
Digital life is very cinematic but in a different way than the old guard are used to. There’s a reason we’re all on our phones and on our computers, it’s quite engrossing. Since I started the film, especially in narrative film, there are more filmmakers embracing [that]: Searching, Missing. In fact, my VFX team had worked on other screenlife films, so they knew how to pull those graphics off in a convincing way, whereas a lot of times in documentaries, the internet looks very glossy.
Last night's premiere of @BreakGameMovie at @Tribeca was incredible! Here is a little animation that was made for the film that didn't make it in! Everyone involved is so nice and I'm really happy to be a part of this entire experience!Thanks @JaneMWagner #pixelart #Tribeca2023 pic.twitter.com/pHAfJk9dYL
— Pat Ackerman (@patackart) June 11, 2023
Let’s talk about the animations because Pat Ackerman’s work in this film is remarkable. What was the impetus to incorporate these majestic pixel art sequences and how did Pat Ackerman get involved in the project?
I knew the film needed some sort of breath to help with the claustrophobia of the stream. I always thought there would be some sort of video game inspired animation to flesh out some of the backstory for what I didn’t have footage of or how Narcissa sees herself, which is through the lens of a video game. That was top of mind for a long time. I did a Kickstarter campaign [for the film] and I started to experiment with pixel art for the art of that campaign and it really fit the tone of the film. It’s nostalgic, it’s childlike, kind of like your memory of a video game. Originally, we went to a bunch of post houses, and they said, “This is not possible. We can’t do pixel art to this level of detail,” or, “Send me a photograph and we’ll put it through a filter.”
Fascinating.
But I was fortunate enough to get introduced to Patrick through a job posting. I really liked his work and I loved the fact that Patrick was a Zelda fan. When we had a zoom [call], there was a Hylian Shield behind him. He had a real fluency with the games that I wanted to reference in the pixel art. We worked together for two-and-a-half years. He took no shortcuts. He was going frame by frame in a way that made it feel really nostalgic. Then, we brought on Emily Wolver from Cryptozoo, who animated Patrick’s art. It was a really great marriage because she also is a Zelda fan. She did just enough to make his work really pop and have an added dimension without losing detail. I’m very proud of the pixel art and I hope that one day I can work with Patrick and Emily again on a fully animated project.
I think we’re long overdue for our first ever fully pixel art-animated studio project. I think the art style has a universal appeal that nobody gives it credit for.
It’s so beautiful. It seems like you don’t have infinite choices because you’re dealing with little squares, but what is possible while working under those limitations is really mind-blowing. To find someone like Patrick who can apply that style and take it really far is an absolute dream.
What were the games that inspired these animations? Was there a specific Zelda?
It was really important to me that it would be clear that the pixel art was its own thing and not a game that Narcissa was actually playing. So, while we were inspired by the iconography of Zelda, we didn’t want to specifically reference a Zelda game out of fear of someone thinking she had just switched to a different Zelda game. We were really inspired by Stardew Valley, which is one of my favorite games. In the scene where Narcissa and d_gurl are flirting, I was really inspired by the courtship in Stardew Valley and how you get Heart Events. There’s also a really good EarthBound reference in one of the animations. Undertale was an inspiration for the end credits sequence. There are a lot of hidden easter eggs that I welcome viewers to watch and rewatch, even in the backgrounds of the pixel art.
Later on in the film, there is a moment where Narcissa is hiking with d_gurl and there’s a shot that feels very like a recreation of Breath of the Wild. Was it a conscious decision to feature so much of Breath of the Wild and then juxtapose them to those nature vistas?
That shot was definitely conscious. I knew Narcissa was planning to go to Long Beach to see d_gurl, and I asked [her], “What other kinds of things do you like to do?” She was like, “I like to hike.” I wanted to see if I could find a place that would capture the feeling of leaving the cave in Zelda. There was a place in California, Topanga Canyon, that we filmed in. The idea came from when I was spending time with Narcissa [in Portland]. We’d go for a walk, we’d see a flower, and she’d say, “Oh, that reminds me! It’s Warm Safflina, like from Breath of the Wild.” That’s just how she sees the world. We spent a lot of time talking about how she doesn’t see the world necessarily as [divided] between digital life and the physical world. She’s like, “It’s all real, it’s all part of life,” so I wanted to tap into that feeling.
I’m very curious about the ending of the film. While there is a clear love for streaming culture, there is a bittersweetness when you realize it isn’t sustainable for Narcissa. As somebody who is a member of this community, do you see streaming culture as sustainable with its current format?
For me, I think that d_gurl offers an example of streaming culture at its best. For d_gurl, streaming is not her entire life. She has a life both on and off Twitch. She has a balance where she can make these connections, meet someone like Narcissa, hang out with friends on stream, and find community. When she was coming out herself, she was able to find Narcissa’s stream and see herself in that stream. For her, it’s quite successful. For some of us who are more casual viewers, we can really get a lot out of the experience of watching a streamer. But I think Narcissa’s story shows what happens when that’s not kept in check, when streaming becomes your entire life. The more you stream, the more you are able to make a living. It shows how platforms like Twitch incentivize, in some cases, unhealthy behavior. Rather than delivering a specific message of saying, “No streaming” or “Streaming’s great,” I want the film to be the beginning of a discussion on what digital life is right now, how we can improve it, and how it affects our relationships and the way we relate to one another.
Last question: I know you’ve been busy making this film, so I’m sure you haven’t had as much time to play games as you normally would, but are there any games you’re playing right now?
Well, the second I get on the plane back to LA from Tribeca, I will be diving headfirst into Tears of the Kingdom.
Of course, of course.
I only finished this film a few weeks ago and I knew that if I started Tears of the Kingdom when it came out, I would not be able to finish the film.
[laughs] Right.
It’s been the same for a lot of the crew. The second the score and the mix were done, one of our composers, Jeff Brodsky, sent me a photo of him starting Tears of the Kingdom. So, that’s number one. I also want to play Cult of the Lamb, I want to play EarthBound. It’s been really hard to play games and finish this film, so I have a whole list I’m treating myself to, in addition to continuing to play Stardew Valley, my favorite game.
Forever. Ad infinitum.
Pretty much.
Break The Game had its World Premiere as part of the Viewpoints section of the 2023 Tribeca Festival. The film is currently seeking distribution. It will next be seen at Gen Con 2023 in Indianapolis. Tickets are free and can be purchased here.
Larry Fried is a filmmaker, writer, and podcaster based in New Jersey. He is the host and creator of the podcast “My Favorite Movie is…,” a podcast dedicated to helping filmmakers make somebody’s next favorite movie. He is also the Visual Content Manager for Special Olympics New Jersey, an organization dedicated to competition and training opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities across the Garden State.